Humanity on the Rocks
by Leia Belle Organa
Summary: A Stelena Revision to Season 4.


_Humanity on the Rocks_

_Chapter 1:_

_Stefan's confrontation _

_(Starting with the bedroom scene, between Stefan and Elena in 4x16)_

"Don't get me wrong, I see you there, and you look good," Elena retracted. "I remember what we had, and it was good sex, but that's all it is now… a memory."

Stefan's eyes shot up, hearing those words, made him feel uneased. Yet, it proved that Elena still had some feelings to show.

"Look, Elena, I just want you to have a happy life, with or without me." "Is that too much to ask?" Stefan pleaded, trying his best to reach her.

Elena's eyes widened, Stefan could make out some of her old self, trying to get out, yet in an instant, her facial expression changed back.

"Why would I want to come back?" Elena snapped back. "You obviously let me go the minute I shut all my feelings off." "Now, just to ease your pathetic conscious, you want the "human/old" me back." "Ha," Elena mockingly, sneered. "I guess you never truly loved me, because if you did, you wouldn't leave me with Damon." "You would stand by me, no matter what!"

Elena stopped to see Stefan's face turn pale. The she finished by asking, "Why would I want to come back to heartbreak and misery?" "Who do I really have?"

Hearing those words, Stefan felt as though he were stabbed by a vervain soaked dagger. She was right on all accounts. He did let her go. He had pushed her into Damon's clutches. He was going to leave her, once she was cured. All because he was afraid of "history repeating itself." Hell, this wasn't history, Elena was nothing like Katherine in the least! How could he have been so foolish, to let the woman he loved go, without even a fight?!

"I see I hit a nerve," Elena spoke out, ending the icy silence. "Well, if you'll excuse me, I need my phone back," she finished, while she walked over to the desk, and grabbed her phone from her satchel.

Stefan turned around and saw her, texting. He couldn't let her go, not with her believing he hated her. He knew he had to something.

"Elena, I'm sorry for how I've treated you." "You deserve better, and I…" He paused, seeing Elena so engrossed with her phone.

"Who the hell are you texting?!" Stefan shouted, snatching her phone from her.

"Why do you care?!" Elena shouted.

Just then, they could hear the sound of something breaking, downstairs.

"What's that?" Stefan asked, heading out of the room, and down the stairs. Elena smiled, as she trailed along behind him.

Stefan ran down the stairs and was shocked to see practically the entire senior class, parting in their home.

He whipped around to see Elena walking behind him. "So this is why you were texting," he summed up.

"You wanted to keep me away from the party, so I brought the party here," Elena explained, smirking at him.

"I see," Stefan grunted, turned around and walking into the crowd.

Later on, Stefan ran into Caroline, who, herself, was shocked that Elena had secretly planned a party.

She could see that Stefan was on edge, and rightfully so, she tried to convince him that they should make the best of the situation.

Stefan agreed, and the two started to mingle with the party, and dance along.

Elena was dancing on the tables, pouring shots of vodka into the varsity players' mouths.

She glanced up, and saw Caroline and Stefan dancing. Knowing this should mean nothing to her, what-so-ever, she couldn't help but hate it. She had to do something to put a stop to their fun.

She jumped off the table and walked straight towards them.

Stefan looked up and saw her approaching them.

"Look who finally joined the party," Elena said with a sneer.

"Uh, yeah," Stefan replied, glancing at Caroline. "Why, you, uh, jealous, or something?" he countered.

"No," Elena scoffed. "That would imply emotions, and we've already established those are useless."

"Come on, Elena, just dance with us," Caroline begged, trying to lighten the mood.

"No, you guys look good together." Elena shrugged. "By all means, Car, take him out for a spin, he could use it," she finished, backing away.

Stefan couldn't help but lower his face in disgust. He couldn't stand for this, much longer. He wouldn't let her go, this time! "Elena, wait!" he shouted, racing after her.

He grabbed her by the arm and spun her around. "What are you doing?" "Stefan, you have Caroline to play with now, why do you keep persisting on me?" Elena fired.

"Because, whether you feel or not, I do," Stefan answered. "I still love you." "And, I'm not going to let you throw it all away that easily," he finished, now holding her in a dance position.

"Oh, God!" "You want to dance with me, now?" Elena shot back.

"Yes, and I know the best one, the Hand Jive," he added, twirling Elena around.

"Oh, joy," Elena sarcastically, remarked.

Stefan, then lifted her up, swung her left and right, paused, then lifted her up and kissed her, as passionately as he could.

Once he stopped, and looked at her face, he saw a different Elena, staring at him.

Elena was, literally, shaken up. She had idea of how she should react to this, sudden gesture. So, without a word, she walked away from Stefan, or more like ran away.

Stefan smiled, he knew he had reached her. At some level, he had touched her heart.

Elena walked towards the main door of the house and was surprise to see Sheriff Forbs.

"Elena, what's going on here?" she asked.

"Umm, just some underage drinking and drug use," Elena casually, answered.

Liz stood there, shocked by Elena's reply. "Where's Stefan?"

"Oh, he's actually busy, trying to re-sweep me off my feet." "I mean, while he's not flirting with your daughter." "But, I think he's a good rebound for her, because of the whole "Tyler thing."" Elena stated.

Liz was now gasping in utter disbelief. She was getting fed up with Elena's attitude. "I'm shutting this down."

Elena instantly grabbed her wrist. "Liz, please, why don't you just stay and have a drink."

"Elena, take your hand off me," Liz ordered.

Elena was now done playing nice, "Either you have a drink, or I will," she icily, replied, as the veins under her eyes started to show.

Liz made a move to grab her gun, Elena was faster and shoved her against the wall.

"Mom!" Caroline shouted, racing towards them, shoving Elena away.

"I'm fine," Liz reassured.

Caroline turned to see Elena, only now Stefan was guarding her.

"Ah," Caroline screamed, making a move to attack her.

"Caroline, calm down!" Stefan ordered.

"Calm down?!" Caroline fired back. "I'm gonna ring her skinny, little neck!" she hissed, hitting Stefan's chest.

There was a sudden rush of air. When Stefan turned around, Elena was gone. He and Caroline looked outside and saw a paper cup, spinning around.

Caroline's facial expression, changed into a frightened one, while Stefan's turned to anger.

"Great, now she's out there, alone!" he cried.

Stefan immediately raced out after her. Caroline made sure her mother was all right, before she went to search for her "friend."

"Okay, I just called Damon, he'll help us search," Stefan informed. Glancing at Caroline's face, he knew that she was still apprehensive to find Elena.

"Look, Car, I know what Elena did earlier was wrong, but she's not herself, you much remember that!" Stefan sternly stated.

Caroline knew he was right, yet wondered why he was so forgiving of her, without even a thought. "I know, but Stefan, she threatened my mom!"

"I know that, but…"

"How can you defend her, like she's still innocent?!" Caroline bellowed.

"Because, it's my fault Elena is like this." "I pushed her away, not knowing I was hurting her." "I blamed her for the sire bond, when I knew that Damon was truly responsible." "I wanted to find the cure for her, but ignored that fact that she didn't really need it." "What she needed was for Damon to release her!" Stefan shouted.

He paused when he saw Caroline's speechless expression. "Of course, we're talking about Damon, I knew he would never let her go, on his own accord, so, I wanted her to take the cure."

"You were trying to help her," Caroline interjected.

"I know that, but I still distanced myself from her." "It's my fault for shunning her, and trying to get her out of my life, when I should have never left her in the first place!" Stefan stated, now breathing heavily. "I love her, Caroline."

Caroline sighed, feeling disgusted with herself. "I'm sorry, you're right, Stefan, I'll help you in any way that I can."

"Stefan took a deep breath, sighing, he replied, "Thank you." "Now, we'll split up, I'll take this side, you take that side."

Caroline nodded, as they spilt up.

Caroline walked deeper into the woods. She thought she heard something move in her direction. "Elena?" she called out.

"Elena, if that's you, don't make any sudden moves." "I don't want to hurt you."

Just then Caroline felt herself being knocked over.

"Hurt me?" Elena repeated in a mocking tone. "We'll see about that."

Caroline zoomed back onto her feet, and began fighting with Elena.

Elena pushed, as Caroline shoved, when Elena punched her in the face, Caroline almost fell over.

"Ow!" "Oh, God, just stop it, Elena!" she cried.

"Who's hurting who, Caroline?" Elena snidely remarked, breaking off a tree branch. "Alaric taught me how to fight vampires, you really thought that you could beat me?" she questioned, approaching her.

"Well, time to say bye, Caroline," Elena stated, aiming the stick at her.

In that moment, all the colour in Caroline's face faded, she couldn't believe this was happening. Elena was about to kill her. "No, please," she cried.

Suddenly, Stefan raced towards Elena, grabbing her so forcefully that it knocked them both over.

Caroline opened her eyes, and saw Damon running towards them.

"Let go of me!" Elena shouted, struggling against Stefan's tight grip.

"Just stop, okay!" Stefan shot back. He looked at Caroline and saw she was a bit bruised, but not really hurt. Then, he turned towards Damon. "I'll get her out of her, stay with Caroline; make sure she's all right."

"All right," Damon replied, bending down, next to Caroline. "Hey," he spoke, trying to calm her down. "You okay?"

Caroline turned to face him, she and Damon had quite an interesting past. Ever since he used her, she hated him with all her might, yet now, took relief at him being at her side. "I'm okay, just shook up," she answered.

"We better get you home," Damon stated, helping her up. "Can you walk?"

Caroline didn't know if his concern was sincere, or not. She tried to give a snide reply, but choked on her words. She sighed, replying, "Yes, I can." "Thank you."

"I'll walk you home," Damon reassured.

Stefan managed to carry or more like drag Elena back to the house. Once they were in his room, Stefan pushed Elena onto the bed.

"What the hell were you doing?!" he cried. "Did you really want to kill her?"

Elena could see despair, fear, and disappointment all at once in Stefan's face. She began to realise that he did care about her.

"Stefan, what's wrong with defending myself?" she quipped back. "Why are you so mad at me?" "Besides, I wasn't gonna hurt her…much." "I was only going to graze her heart." "That's a normal reaction."

Stefan shrugged, "You'll be normal when you stop trying to kill your best friend." He sat on the chair, next to the wall, covering his face.

Elena forced herself to get up and walk over to him. She began to feel his pain, she began to feel… _No! _She cried to herself. _Elena, you do not feel, not anymore! It'll only bring you pain and misery, if you do!_

She had no idea what she was doing, yet somehow found herself, rubbing his shoulder. It was as if she were trying to comfort him.

"Hey," she softly, spoke. "I'm sorry that this has upset you, but this is me, now, you'll have to accept that."

Stefan looked up and gazed deeply into her eyes.

"You have no right to judge me, after all, you fed on Amber, in public, last year," Elena stated. "Just like I fed on the cheerleader." "Then you were supposedly take me to a bar, where we could feed on waiters."

"So, this proves that we're exactly the same, you and I." "We both have the same emotionless actions."

Stefan could barely breathe, she was right, they were the same person, deep down. _Why did it take me this long to realise that? _

"When I was the "old" me, I was filled with compassion and guilt, just like you were," Elena added. "When we were both human, and when we both chose to "feel" as vampires." Elena began to laugh, "No wonder we loved each other."

Those words were a revelation for Stefan. Elena had just listed out their shared qualities. _Does this mean she can feel, even if it's just love for me, or us?_

He stood up, and grabbed Elena's hand, pulling her closer to him. "You're right, I have no right to judge." "And, I'm not going to ask or force you to feel, anything, but, try to feel something."

Elena scoffed, "Why?" "The pain will be "too much to bear.""

Stefan placed his hands on her face. "Because, even if you ignore the rest of the pain and the guilt, you can still feel passion," he stated.

Elena could feel his warm breath on her face, their faces were practically touching. _Is he right? Can I still feel love, without pain? _The thought of having Stefan back in her life, did please her. But, she had to know how he felt. Was this real, or was it a ruse? If the roles were reversed, would he stop Caroline from killing me, or not?

Elena backed away from him, she had to find out what his answer would be. "Back there, if Caroline would have had the upper hand and was about to kill me, what would you have done?"

Stefan knew the answer to her question, his answer would never change, no matter what the circumstance. "I would have stopped her," he stated. "I would have thrown her off of you."

"Would you have killed her if you had to?"

"Yes," Stefan firmly, replied. "I'd stop anyone or anything from hurting you!"

He walked towards her, and brushed her cheek with his fingers. "I'll always be in love with you, Elena."

Elena's tense expression changed, instantly. She immediately wrapped her arms around Stefan and kissed him, fiercely, catching Stefan completely off-guard.

Stefan couldn't help but to comply, and kiss her back. Once they broke free, their eyes connected, entrancing them both.

"Love might be worth trying," Elena remarked.

Stefan smiled, happy to hear those words, "I never stopped loving you, when I was "off" my emotions." "Now, we'll have each other."

Elena could not help smile back, "What should we do?" "What do you have in mind?"

"We're going on a trip, we both could use some new scenery," Stefan stated.

"Where to?"

"New York," Stefan replied, pulling out an old journal.

"Is Katherine there?" Elena snapped, cocking an eyebrow.

Stefan turned to her, "No, and even if she is, it has no meaning." "I don't want to force you to do anything."

Elena could hear the sincerity in his voice. "Thank you, for respecting me." "I'd love to go with you, when do we leave?"

"The sooner the better," Stefan stated, smiling back.


End file.
